Snow Canyon soccer coach Kenny Kunde has noticed a little extra bit of confidence in his girls this week. And the Warriors have a few reasons to feel good about themselves heading into the first-round of the 4A state tournament against Juan Diego on Wednesday.

Snow Canyon has won three straight games by a combined total of 19-5, including a 5-2 victory over second-place Dixie, and clinched the Region 9 title with a 7-3 win over Hurricane.

“I think the last three games, the girls have been clicking and playing well,” Kunde said. “Most of the team is healthy and we’ve been playing really well, so the kids are pretty confident heading into the tournament.”

Ashley Brindley was a scoring machine during the regular season, knocking in 16 goals, including a four-goal performance against Pine View, and the Warriors will need her to continue her high-scoring ways to make it far into the tourney. Snow Canyon will also look to Arantxa Melendez to control the tempo of the game in the midfield.

“We expect the girls who have been playing well to continue to do that,” Kunde said. “Ashley's been scoring a lot of goals for us, so we expect her to continue to do that. Melendez, she needs to control the pace and dictate what’s going on the game with how she’s playing in the middle.

“There’s not one particular kid to outdo what they have done, but we do expect them to communicate and play really well as a team.”

Snow Canyon looks to be Region 9’s best chance of a deep playoff run, but even the Warriors could be susceptible to an early upset. With Region 9 moving up to 4A this season, coaches expect some tougher challenges in the first two rounds.

“It’s not like in 3A when you have a little easier game for the first round,” Kunde said. “Or even in the second round. All the teams are really, really good that have made the tournament.”

In the preseason, the Region 9 schools proved they could compete with teams up north and from any classification. Snow Canyon defeated Davis and tied Copper Hills, Desert Hills beat 4A-playoff-qualifier Orem, Dixie tied Green Canyon and Cedar was competitive in a loss to Region 10 champion Spanish Fork.

The Lady Reds have a history of doing well in the state tournament, too. Cedar won the 3A championship in 2014 and finished second in 2015.

“Region 9 is super competitive and I think our fourth seed (Desert Hills) has a great chance of going up to Bonneville and make it a game and maybe win,” Kunde said. “I think we have caught up a little bit to what they are doing up north and I think Region 9 can compete with any of the teams that are there.”